Has this been done recently? Off road navigation?

[breamster]

What would you recommend for off road navigation?

I would like to be able to plot a route or upload a gpx and follow it. I'm not into strava etc or tracking. Purely following a route.

I don't have a budget as such but cheaper the better. I have tried smart phones before but have come unstuck in heavy rain and battery life so I am looking for a dedicated gadget.

What does everyone else use?

Thanks.

[wobert]

I have a Garmin Touring Plus. I use it both on and off road. I also use Ride with GPS to plot routes on and off road, work a treat!

The Garmin was c£160 from bike discount.de when I bought it back in October last year.

[richardxjr]

Garmin Dakota & Etrex, Very robust, AA powered, similar units except touchscreen or buttons, respectively.

Good free maps off talkytoaster and garmin openstreetmap. I create routes on (or import from elsewhere into) bikehike.co.uk and download as a gpx track (not route - if you download as route you get a reduced no of waypoints). USB lead pc to unit.

The bar mounts are supposedly not as good as the Edge quarter turn mounts though, but it's always been secure for me and they're only a couple of quid each. Lanyard round the bars too perhaps.

Dakota 10 has 1Gb intl storage (enough for me) but no SD card, and no barometric altimeter, but if you're not strava-ing that's not an issue really. Paid £70 for mine yonks ago off ebay. Think units are about £100 new now.

Higher models have SD card storage and baro. For the extra few quid I recommend a higher model unless you find a good deal on a 10 that somebody is upgrading from.

For the actual Nav, you follow a line on the screen which overlays your map. This works well off road (and on imho) but it is not like a car sat nav with turn by turn.

Edited by richardxjr on Thursday 10th March 08:45

[matt-ITR]

I have a Garmin 810 and it has been fantastic and seen many years of use.

As a tool solely for navigation however I would choose the e-trex. As it happens I have a brand new one that I would sell

[SixPotBelly]

matt-ITR said:

As it happens I have a brand new one that I would sell

10, 20, 20x, 30 or 30x?

[tuffer]

Garmin with OS maps installed. Use Garmin Connect to plot routes as Strava will not let you go off road and bing.maps OS mapping to find suitable routes.

[tuffer]

http://www.cyclesurgery.com/garmin-edge-810-enduro...

[breamster]

Sounds like etrex is the one I am after. Have done a bit more reading and it seems a good bet. Quite pleased at how inexpensive they are. Was expecting worse.

Are they quite robust? In other words take a chance on eBay or buy new?

[breamster]

matt-ITR said:

I have a Garmin 810 and it has been fantastic and seen many years of use.

As a tool solely for navigation however I would choose the e-trex. As it happens I have a brand new one that I would sell

Have tried to PM you about this. What model do you have?

[WestyCarl]

Don't want to sound like a 19th century luddite but a map and compass.
Won't run out of batteries, cheap, easy to change route if something unexpected happens, plus there is also some satisfaction knowing you can navigate.

[Elfit]

I was given a Garmin Geko 201 years ago and I still use it. It works fine. (Note it's a Geko 201 ~ I wasn't given a Geko a very long time ago.......)
It doesn't have any maps installed but gives me directions of where to go.
Looking on ebay I see that they are selling very cheaply ~ at under £20!!

Anyway, I use this brilliant site bikehike.co.uk for plotting routes.
On one side of the screen you have an OS map and a satellite view on the other which is great for sussing out decent paths.
I then download the file to the geko which can be mounted on the handlebars. I don't get lost nearly so often

Cycle.travel is another useful website that is worth a look too ( but not really for off road)

Cheers

Tim